So you want to be a doctor? - Reaching AAA* GYG

Bonnie 99

13

Hello!

Welcome to my Grow my Grades forum!

A bit about me!
So I'm in year 13 and I'm studying Chemistry, Biology and Maths A levels.
I thought I ought to start this to help me cope with the stresses of A level and applying to Uni, as many of you reading this know, and also to help me achieve those A* s!

**Update: In year 12, I also studied further maths and physics for the whole year as well as the 3 subjects I’m studying this year.

My Academics:

GCSEs:

Spoiler

AS Levels:

Spoiler

Update: UKCAT

Spoiler

Predicted: A*A*A* at A level

Uni:

I have applied to do Medicine to hopefully become an Army Doctor in years to come! About a week ago I entered my UCAS! (10/10/17) :u:

. But, I am applying for deferred entry because I won’t be old enough to enter for Sept 2019 in some universities.

Medicine:
University of Cambridge - A*A*A - Application Received (11/10/17)
Imperial College London - A*AA - Application Received (11/10/17)
University of Edinburgh - AAA - Application Received (11/10/17)
University of Bristol - AAA - Application Received (12/10/17)

Medical Biosciences:
Imperial College London - AAA - Application Received (11/10/17)

Key: Application Acknowledged
Rejected
Offered Interview
Offer

:snow:

For my gap year, I’m planning on doing a ski instructors course during July-September 2018 and then instructing in the Alps during the winter season.
Yes I love to ski! :snowman:

Then hopefully some work experience and medical things!

My Aim
So through this thread, I'll be documenting my journey of ups and downs, hopefully towards those grades and all the extra stuff I have to do for applying to Med School (I’m currently revising for the BMAT). Hopefully, you enjoy this thread and it helps you guys! :badger:

(edited 6 years ago)

Going to be following this thread :biggrin:

I'm in year 11 and am also aiming for medicine. Any quick tips for good GCSE grades (especially English)?

Your application looks very strong, good luck and keep going!

Reply 2

in_candescence

11

Hello, fellow medic here :smile:

what was your ukcat? I think you forgot to include it here. Also, how are you finding BMAT prep?

Reply 3

Bonnie 99

OP

13

Original post by Nikey

Going to be following this thread :biggrin:

I'm in year 11 and am also aiming for medicine. Any quick tips for good GCSE grades (especially English)?

Your application looks very strong, good luck and keep going!

Thank you! Well, English wasn’t my best subject, I truly disliked it until I realised I should really try to like it and revise in around Easter time!

I don’t know how much your syllabus has changed, but when I did it we had these Edexcel anthologies and I used the website http://mrhoyesgcsewebsite.com/ which had analysis for each of the stories in the anthology. Also, when you’re analysing blind texts try to remember persuasive techniques, so you can identify them and expand upon them to support points you make about the text. I used the mnemonic AFORESTPRAM (I’ve attached a powerpoint to explain this). In general, make sure your grammar and spelling is decent, if not try and improve it during essays and other pieces of work.

For English literature, I found it really boring to analyse books, so I went on Youtube and watched https://www.youtube.com/user/mrbruff/featured . Mr Bruff had excellent video analysis for each of the acts and scenes from Romeo & Juliet, which my teacher hadn’t really gone into much depth about, but he also has many other books and tips for English GCSE. Youtube is a really good resource if you find it hard to actually sit down and do some work for the subject.

When you get closer to exams in English Literature, I made flashcards for possible essay titles that could come up, such as different themes and personalities of characters. To do this I bought the CGP guides for each of the two books I read (‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘Romeo & Juliet’) which really made me understand the books better.

Hope this makes sense! If you have any questions about GCSEs, A Levels, Medicine or me, feel free to ask away!

Reply 4

Bonnie 99

OP

13

Original post by in_candescence

Hello, fellow medic here :smile:

what was your ukcat? I think you forgot to include it here. Also, how are you finding BMAT prep?

Hello, fellow medic! Oh yeah, seems like I have, thank you for pointing it out!

For the UKCAT, I got a total of 2740, with the individual breakdown below:
Verbal Reasoning: 590
Decision Making: 700
Quantitative Reasoning: 790
Abstract Reasoning: 660
Situational Judgement: Band 1

I was aiming for higher, but personal reasons on the day brought my score down.

For BMAT so far I have looked at the BMAT specification and made notes on parts that I haven’t covered like the Kidney and its nephrons, and I have also begun doing practice questions on section 1 and 2. I won’t do these in timed conditions until I get the hang of the questions. I have just started looking at section 3 today and practised an essay. Then looked on the internet at how I could improve my arguments within the essay.

How’s your application so far?

Reply 5

clouddbubbles

21

argh! everyone’s so clever! i’m in year 10 and considering applying for medicine once the time comes 👍🏼

Reply 6

username3588150

10

Original post by Bonnie 99

Thank you! Well, English wasn’t my best subject, I truly disliked it until I realised I should really try to like it and revise in around Easter time!

I don’t know how much your syllabus has changed, but when I did it we had these Edexcel anthologies and I used the website http://mrhoyesgcsewebsite.com/ which had analysis for each of the stories in the anthology. Also, when you’re analysing blind texts try to remember persuasive techniques, so you can identify them and expand upon them to support points you make about the text. I used the mnemonic AFORESTPRAM (I’ve attached a powerpoint to explain this). In general, make sure your grammar and spelling is decent, if not try and improve it during essays and other pieces of work.

For English literature, I found it really boring to analyse books, so I went on Youtube and watched https://www.youtube.com/user/mrbruff/featured . Mr Bruff had excellent video analysis for each of the acts and scenes from Romeo & Juliet, which my teacher hadn’t really gone into much depth about, but he also has many other books and tips for English GCSE. Youtube is a really good resource if you find it hard to actually sit down and do some work for the subject.

When you get closer to exams in English Literature, I made flashcards for possible essay titles that could come up, such as different themes and personalities of characters. To do this I bought the CGP guides for each of the two books I read (‘Of Mice and Men’ and ‘Romeo & Juliet’) which really made me understand the books better.

Hope this makes sense! If you have any questions about GCSEs, A Levels, Medicine or me, feel free to ask away!

Thank you! English isn't my best subject either so it's good to know that it's possible to get a good grade in it. I appreciate your reply, it helps a lot :biggrin:

Reply 7

Bonnie 99

OP

13

Original post by leonicunningham

Hi, I have a few questions :smile:

1 - Do you have much work experience, if so how did you go about getting it?
2 - Any tips for maths/further maths, I'm really struggling
3 - How comes your too young for some unis? Late birthday or did you skip a year?

So work experience wise, I have had about 2 weeks, sorta here and there in hospitals - geriatrics ward, minor surgery, GP surgery, shadowing nurses, heart ultrasounds. These, however, were quite fleeting and were hard to get because I only turned 16 earlier this year. I went on a couple doctor interest weeks, which had lectures on different wards, career structure and reasons to be/not to be a doctor. I also have done a bit of volunteering in a care home. So, on the whole, my application is quite weak on the experience side, hence I tried to apply to more academic universities.

For maths and further maths, I definitely struggled at first because I was doing so many modules at such a quick pace and I felt we only just skimmed over topics. I eventually got up to date with it. However, when I got closer to exams around March-April time, I thought back to M1, which we did at the very start and I couldn’t remember anything in it! So definitely in your spare time (I know it doesn’t seem like there is a lot of this in A levels) try and consolidate each chapter of your units by doing more of the exercises. Possibly, you could also make notes of the main points of each chapter to help you later in the year. When you have finished a module make sure you do at least one exam paper (if your school doesn’t), so then you can see where your strengths and weaknesses are in that module and can address them earlier than later. Just try and do a little, often.

I skipped a year around about year 1 when I moved abroad. So, I won’t be 18 until May 2019, which is the age requirement for some of the universities. Also, it would be annoying being 17 for almost the whole of first year because of nightlife/drinking and other things.

Reply 8

Bonnie 99

OP

13

Original post by anyapoundall02

argh! everyone’s so clever! i’m in year 10 and considering applying for medicine once the time comes 👍🏼

Thanks! It's good that you're thinking about it so early 👍🏼 I had literally no idea what I wanted to do until just before year 12. Frankly, I was quite surprised by my GCSE grades, I had worked hard, but still surprised! Feel free to ask me anything about GCSEs or whatever!

Reply 9

clouddbubbles

21

Original post by Bonnie 99

Thanks! It's good that you're thinking about it so early 👍🏼 I had literally no idea what I wanted to do until just before year 12. Frankly, I was quite surprised by my GCSE grades, I had worked hard, but still surprised! Feel free to ask me anything about GCSEs or whatever!

thanks for that! i’m still not sure if medicine is for me, i might do sports science at loughborough or somewhere instead but i’ve always been so fascinated by medicine! the new 9-1 gcses are a real pain though...

Reply 10

_king_aj_23_

8

I'm a Medical applicant as well.

My GCSEs were not that great (yours are so good):-
4A*s; 4As; 3Bs.
My AS Levels (our school did the AS exams as well even though we are doing linear courses for Biology, Chemistry and History) were much better than my GCSEs:-
4As.
My Predicted Grades are decent:-
A*A*A* A (A in History).
Applied Universities:-
Cambridge; UCL; Imperial; Kings; St. George's (Biomedical Sciences).
UKCAT only applies to last two universities (I got 680-Band 2).

Do you think I stand a chance?

Reply 11

Bonnie 99

OP

13

Original post by Nikey

Thank you! English isn't my best subject either so it's good to know that it's possible to get a good grade in it. I appreciate your reply, it helps a lot :biggrin:

Sorry, forgot to add the link to the powerpoint! https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwiA7riDsv3WAhUOEVAKHVVUAtoQFggqMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstjamesenglish.wikispaces.com%2Ffile%2Fview%2FA%2BFOREST%2BPRAM%2Bppt%2Bhigher%2Btier.ppt&usg=AOvVaw3xRWs9Cpb8GK5fvlBGqeAg

Reply 12

HeadHoncho

14

This looks v good. Good luck I’m sure you’ll smash it!

Reply 13

username3588150

10

Original post by Bonnie 99

Sorry, forgot to add the link to the powerpoint! https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwiA7riDsv3WAhUOEVAKHVVUAtoQFggqMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fstjamesenglish.wikispaces.com%2Ffile%2Fview%2FA%2BFOREST%2BPRAM%2Bppt%2Bhigher%2Btier.ppt&usg=AOvVaw3xRWs9Cpb8GK5fvlBGqeAg

Haha, thanks :biggrin:

Reply 14

Bonnie 99

OP

13

Original post by _king_aj_23_

I'm a Medical applicant as well.

My GCSEs were not that great (yours are so good):-
4A*s; 4As; 3Bs.
My AS Levels (our school did the AS exams as well even though we are doing linear courses for Biology, Chemistry and History) were much better than my GCSEs:-
4As.
My Predicted Grades are decent:-
A*A*A* A (A in History).
Applied Universities:-
Cambridge; UCL; Imperial; Kings; St. George's (Biomedical Sciences).
UKCAT only applies to last two universities (I got 680-Band 2).

Do you think I stand a chance?

Well done on your grades! Not many universities actually look at your GCSEs, as long as you have 5 A*-C or sometimes 5A*-A which you have! Although universities sometimes say they don’t really look at your AS levels because many schools don’t offer them for linear, they will definitely look at you favourably and will remove any potential concerns about your GCSEs, if they have any. Cambridge will love having your AS grades as well! Predicted grades you’ll be above most applicants and UKCAT you’re in the top half of the 7th decile this year. You may have to do better in your interview because of your band 2, but some unis don’t look at the situational judgement as they think it’s useless. Good luck with your revision for the BMAT!

So definitely, you have a good chance! Which college have you applied for Cambridge and how much work experience have you done?
Keep working hard and I'm sure you'll smash your grades. Good luck for the waiting from ucas!

Reply 15

Bonnie 99

OP

13

Original post by HeadHoncho

This looks v good. Good luck I’m sure you’ll smash it!

Thanks! Well done on your amazing grades btw!

Reply 16

Alibino

10

hello there I'm a first year medical student at ucl. i actually got in with all Bs at gcse but got 3 A*S at a level and got in so you shouldn't have a problem. however the interviews are extremely important which is what a lot of people fail at. you can ask me for any tips on interviews if you want

Reply 17

in_candescence

11

Original post by Bonnie 99

Hello, fellow medic! Oh yeah, seems like I have, thank you for pointing it out!

For the UKCAT, I got a total of 2740, with the individual breakdown below:
Verbal Reasoning: 590
Decision Making: 700
Quantitative Reasoning: 790
Abstract Reasoning: 660
Situational Judgement: Band 1

I was aiming for higher, but personal reasons on the day brought my score down.

For BMAT so far I have looked at the BMAT specification and made notes on parts that I haven’t covered like the Kidney and its nephrons, and I have also begun doing practice questions on section 1 and 2. I won’t do these in timed conditions until I get the hang of the questions. I have just started looking at section 3 today and practised an essay. Then looked on the internet at how I could improve my arguments within the essay.

How’s your application so far?

Still an excellent score! I got 2610 which I was quite happy with but AR really messed up my average :redface:

plus I didn't do as much practice as i would have liked because I went on holiday for the week just before my test :/ it's fine though, the unis I'm applying to don't put too much emphasis on ukcat so i hope i'll be alright. And my application is decent thanks (i hope lol). I'm doing the bmat only for 1 uni and so far I've been using the green 700Q book, past papers, specification and the online guide to section 2 :biggrin:

I've been doing a mock a week for about 6 weeks now, still finding it hard though :frown:

Reply 18

in_candescence

11

Original post by Alibino

hello there I'm a first year medical student at ucl. i actually got in with all Bs at gcse but got 3 A*S at a level and got in so you shouldn't have a problem. however the interviews are extremely important which is what a lot of people fail at. you can ask me for any tips on interviews if you want

Congrats on getting a place! May I ask if you were interviewed at any other unis and if so which ones?

Reply 19

Alibino

10

Original post by in_candescence

Congrats on getting a place! May I ask if you were interviewed at any other unis and if so which ones?

brighton,manchester and Southampton.

i got accepted by all of them as well but decided to go to ucl. But it is hard living by myself in london especially since everything is so expensive. So i would say try and get into your local university if they are doing the course you want to study. I kind of regret not going manchester...